From major sports and news events to music gigs and global product launches – or even a loved one’s funeral, live streaming; delivering real time content is something most of us have experienced in our lives.
It used to be the exclusive domain of TV production companies with multi- cameras and a massive production crew, but anyone can live stream (broadcast) including businesses and brands.
What is live streaming?
It’s really simple – live streaming is when the streamed video is sent over the internet in real time without being recorded and stored.
The first media players capable of livestreaming over the Internet were developed in the early 1990s and YouTube hosted its first livestream event in 2008. It was billed as the ultimate game changer because anyone with a computer and internet connection could watch live events from anywhere in the world.
Corporate live streaming
Corporate live streaming can help businesses increase their brand awareness and enable them to reach a wider audience than they would with just an ‘ in person’ event. The advantage of streaming is that it allows brands and companies to showcase their products and services to a larger audience.
According to dacast – a live streaming platform, 29% of businesses livestream every day and 53% livestream every week. From virtual conferences to launch events and awards shows, live streaming is a trend that is here to stay.
But before you get too carried away and set up an iPhone and tripod in your office, ready to start filming your CEO, a successful corporate live stream takes time, effort and a lot of planning.
Choosing a corporate live streaming platform
YouTube Facebook Live and Twitch are a few of the platforms that allow free streaming of your content. But you need to think about your audience. In our experience brands tend to want to choose one platform to consolidate their ‘view counts’ and keep things simple.
TikTok.
Not for every brand but particularly popular among Gen Z and is now being adopted by a wider demographic. Marketers say “TikTok’s unique algorithm provides an unparalleled opportunity for brands to go viral and reach a large audience quickly.”
Instagram is a great corporate live streaming platform for brands that want to reach consumers – one in 5 Instagram users watch a live stream on the platform. Allowing the presenter to see real time live viewer comments helps increase engagement and we would argue it is excellent for a product launch and even better if a celebrity is involved. Instagram appeals to Gen Z and Millennials although the demographics are changing and there is increased engagement from Gen X.
YouTube
YouTube is most favoured by corporate businesses for live streaming, which isn’t a surprise really as it is the most popular place to watch live content. Our clients like this platform for corporate live streaming as you can stream live but schedule events ahead of time. It works well too for longer content, such as webinars or ‘how to’ tutorials.
The stats speak for themselves… With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook say they’re the most watched social media platform for live videos. In fact, one in every five videos on Facebook is a live broadcast.
Facebook Live allows you to see the names, comments and number of viewers in real time. As Facebook owns Instagram, it’s possible to livestream simultaneously on the two platforms as long as your business accounts for each platform are linked.
Twitch
This was originally a platform for gamers but now more mainstream and some clients like its real-time chat that runs along the live streams so that viewers can engage with the brand and among themselves. With Twitch it is all about interacting and building communities. Brands can leverage Twitch to host Q&A sessions, product launches, and other interactive content.
How to start live corporate live streaming - tips and advice
- Consider your filming location. Where possible, avoid boring meeting rooms and all white studios. Your stream is going to be more engaging if it’s filmed in a visually attractive environment. Think about set dressing too.
- We’ve filmed a live corporate video stream literally everywhere from our offices, a museum, to a ship, and a beach – more about that later but it’s really what your budget allows and for you to get creative.
- Sound quality though is just as important as video so make sure that the venue is quiet or if there is something noisy (we had to contend with a very loud chiming clock at one venue) that this is disabled or in shot to explain what the cause of the noise is.
- Be extremely mindful of music – Facebook and YouTube can take you off air if you use commercial music when live streaming as you’re in breach of copyright We’d recommend sourcing your music from licenced online libraries.
- You’ll need good strong WiFi and ideally for it to be hard wired. Live business video streaming requires a stable and reliable internet connection, as well as a good camera /cameras and decent microphones.
- A recce is essential as it would be a disaster to invest in a Live Stream and for it to drop out mid-way through. We’ve all been annoyed as viewers by poor video quality and ‘buffering’ and it can negatively impact the live stream viewer experience. For best practise ensure you have exclusive broadband use at the venue and if your event is out of hours that IT support is available.
- Finally if at all possible encourage audience participation – our clients often flag an X ( formerly Twitter) hashtag at the start of the live stream. YouTube has a chat box that runs next to the video. You don’t want viewers leaving the session and we’d urge business to actively engage with viewers by responding to comments and questions.
Promote or launch a product
They can turn into global events! From tech giants to car manufacturers to the latest fashion collection you can find many examples of live streaming of new product launches, updates or announcements. Top brands like Microsoft, SalesForce and Apple use live video content to engage with customers and prospects.
Internal or external conference
It started during covid out of necessity, but live streaming a conference is a great alternative to an in-person event. Video hosting company Vimeo say, live streaming a conference continues to grow in popularity with 93% of event planners saying they expect to invest in virtual conferences for the future. Live streaming a conference helps broaden your event audience without the need to travel and speakers have the opportunity to participate in the event.
Reaching an internal audience can also be done through live video streaming and is particularly useful for company-wide-meetings, town halls or other corporate events. With a live stream for sensitive situations there is also less risk of misleading information.
Promote a live event
Live streamed conferences featuring interviews, Q&A’s, panels or anything happening on a fixed stage work well for a live stream. It also gives you an opportunity to take questions from your audience which boosts engagement.
LinkedIn Live is probably the favourite platform of B2B marketers and a good platform to reach a business or professional audience.
Webinar or Seminar
Another great use of live streaming. It’s a chance to really engage with your clients if they see you and can relate to you it is more impactful than if you had just been reading a blog. Webinars can also allow for more audience interaction than seminars, as they can include features like live chat, Q&A, screen sharing and the chance to engage with presenters.
What kind of results can you expect as a result of live streaming?
Just ask fashion retailers who have embraced live streaming to attract business more than most. From your local boutique to household names, clothing has emerged as the most popular business live stream. That’s according to global management consultants McKinsey’s 2023 report. This is helped by their use of influencers.
Lydia Rose is just one such UK influencer – a self-styled high-street fashionata, she’s worked with some of the world’s top companies, including ASOS, Gymshark, and Very, to demonstrate the different ways you can style your wardrobe.
Having an influencer can help companies stay front of mind with their audiences and live streaming ensures they can keep in touch with anyone interested in their brand.
It’s got so competitive with brands, there are now stream charts. Apple scored highly with their latest Worldwide Developers Conference. They engaged 819,000 viewers at the peak of the stream as new AI and iOS were revealed.
Apple’s live stream events are legendary –and as I write this at the end of summer 2024 they’re already preparing for another first, the upcoming Mac-Focused “Scary Fast event” – taking place just before Halloween on 30th October at midnight in the UK. It will be streamed on YouTube, and through the Apple TV app.
The 10 most viewed live streams of all time include:
The 2022 Fifa World Cup Final – France V Argentina which attracted more than a billion viewers.
The Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton totted up to a more modest 300 million viewers.
Meanwhile, One World: Together at Home Concert, a global concert organised by Global Citizen to support healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic which was viewed by over 20 million people across various streaming platforms and television networks
Benefits of live streaming
Social media search algorithms favour live video over other kinds of content – and people watch live streams up to three times longer than on-demand video.
A further benefit of live corporate streaming is to increase brand awareness – generate new business leads and of course build trust and brand loyalty in a way which feels more authentic.
It can’t just be a one off –rather like a series of podcasts regular live streams help target decision-makers and ensure you build authority in your field.
A business live stream can be used to generate revenue. Event organisers can charge everyone that would like to watch the live stream of the event (pay-per-view model) or alternatively sponsor ads (adverts are displayed along the live stream in exchange for money).
The final most obvious advantage of a live stream is that you massively increase your reach. It is possible to stream to a global audience without them having to leave their desk – saving you and your customers time and money!
While live streaming is all about the moment and real-time interaction, that’s not to say it doesn’t have other uses. You can re-purpose your live streams to provide content once the stream is over. Make sure you’ve hit record though! This will enable you to provide clips for social media and help you reach a wider audience. A call to action to encourage viewers to join your next stream will encourage repeat views.
Corporate live streaming campaign examples
There are many different types of corporate live streaming and live product announcements are a great way to generate hype for your company’s latest innovation.
Some others that you may want to consider are webinars, seminars and product demonstrations.
The event was made more complicated as the live action required to be streamed both from on board Arvia and the glorious Heywoods Beach on the island’s famous West Coast. Our technology ensured that both elements worked seamlessly.
Singer Nicole Scherzinger ‘christened’ Arvia with a bottle smash, rum of course as we were in the Caribbean! and Singer and TV personality Olly Murs performed some of his best-loved hits, with DJs Sara Cox and Trevor Nelson on hand to present the ship launch entertainment.
The event was watched live worldwide by more than 200,000 people with P&O’s President Paul Ludlow wanting to transport viewers at home from the chilly UK to the Caribbean making it “ a moment to remember”.
This was a multi camera live outside broadcast streamed globally. It was a complicated set up with a panel of up to six speakers on mic along with audience questions.
We varied the stream with different camera angles via our mixing desk and vision mixer to keep the audience at home engaged.
This corporate live stream example was marking the announcement of a three-year research project to study and teach the history of Ukraine from ancient times to the present day.
The Ukrainian History Global Initiative, involves 50 Ukrainian and 40 foreign scholars, including American historian Timothy Snyder (Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna) and Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy (professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University)
About Shout! Communications’ Business Live Streaming service
Live streaming has become a powerful tool for businesses that are looking to reach a wider audience and increase their brand visibility. By incorporating live streaming into their PR and marketing strategy, businesses can increase engagement with customers/clients, build trust, and ultimately increase sales. We specialise in helping businesses, brands and charities create live streamed content.
Get in Touch
Email hello@shoutcommunications.co.uk or ring 020 7240 7373.
